Music
John Oliver, director of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, deserves the thanks of all involved for his willingness to take on this unenviable assignment, as well as credit for ensuring that the performance didn’t fall off the tracks.
Read MoreChick Corea’s “The Continents: Concerto for Jazz Quintet and Chamber Orchestra” is filled with tuneful melody, shows off some superb playing by the soloists, breaks new ground in a number of ways, and achieves nearly all of its ambitions.
Read MoreThe recording was made in December 2010 in San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, and reveals an orchestra fully at home in John Adams’ distinctive idiom.
Read MorePerhaps most remarkably, BSO conductor Stéphane Denève managed to create an atmosphere in which the Symphony Hall audience, which at this time of year sometimes sounds like it’s made up of inpatients from a tuberculosis ward, was utterly captivated: even the quietest moments were accompanied by a welcomed, attentive silence.
Read MoreFrom James P. Johnson to Thelonious Monk to Jason Moran, inspired mentors carry the past into the future.
Read MoreTo judge from the all-around energetic playing of the BSO, it seems conductor Jaap van Zweden has struck a good rapport with the players and I, for one, look forward to hearing more from him in coming seasons.
Read MoreArt with a capital A has been put on such a pedestal that Craft with a capital C has been downgraded to a shabby or rustic sort of activity of which the practitioner should be a little ashamed. ’Tain’t so.
Read MoreDominique Eade’s two greatest gifts are her clarity of musical thought and her courage as an improviser. She does not try to be a cabaret-style interpreter or a ring-a-ding-ding swinger.
Read MoreWorth checking out in February: a few solid experimental shows.
Read MoreMs. Bolden’s goal of evoking wintry climes was achieved because of her choice of pieces and musicians, who performed these compositions so well.
Read More